Investigators studying death of horse and teen rider

The discovery was a puzzle, even to seasoned investigators: How did the bodies of an experienced rider and her horse come to rest 10 feet apart alongside a Southwest Ranches canal?

"I have not seen anything like this before," said Davie Police Capt. Dale Engle, whose agency is tasked with solving the mystery of how Lucia Rodrigo, 16, of Weston, and Brownie, a quarter horse, 18, lost their lives. "At first we looked at it as a homicide, from all angles."

The place where the teenager and the horse were found — north of a canal that flows along Griffin Road, west of Bonaventure Boulevard — is popular with riders.

"It's a common place to go horseback riding," Engle said. "Based on witness accounts, she was riding this horse at a full sprint."

As detectives and crime scene technicians studied details from the scene, a theory emerged.

"If this horse experienced a sudden, major system shutdown and collapsed mid-stride, while in a full sprint, it would make sense that they both landed the way they did," Engle said.

Sun Sentinel

Sun Sentinel

As for Rodrigo, "She suffered a traumatic injury in the fall," he said.

On Friday afternoon, Engle said: "It looks like a tragic accident. But until our investigation is complete, we're not going to draw any conclusions."

The horse's body was taken Thursday night to the University of Florida's College of Veterinary Medicine in Gainesville, where a necropsy was performed Friday afternoon. It could take one to six weeks for test results to be known, a spokeswoman said.

The Broward Medical Examiner's Office performed an autopsy on the teenager Friday morning. It is awaiting UF's findings and wants investigators to have more time to collect information about what led up to the incident before releasing a cause and manner of death.

Lucia Rodrigo was passionate about horses, friends said. She lived in a community that celebrates the equine lifestyle.

A student at Cypress Bay High School in Weston, she was on track to attend college, said Assistant Principal Jeff Nelson, who is also mayor of Southwest Ranches.

"She was just a wonderful kid, an angel," Nelson said Friday. "Everybody is heartbroken at this tragic loss. She comes from a wonderful family."

Rodrigo's parents are Alejandra and Alberto Rodrigo of Weston, Engle said. The father is an airline pilot. He declined to talk about his daughter Friday.

Rodrigo was a member of the South Florida Trail Riders of Broward County, and went on the group's equestrian camping trips. She had ridden horses for at least eight years, friends said.

"I believe she went to the Dupuis Management Area in Palm Beach County with us and may have gone camping at the Hickory Hammocks, near Lake Okeechobee, too," said Brian Skelly, the club's president.

Skelly said the club preserves and maintains trails and trains younger riders about equestrian skills and etiquette.

"We're all about the safety of the riders, and everyone watches out for how the horses are handled and tacked," Skelly said. "We also enforce the helmet law for riders under 16 and encourage young adults to use them, too."

Residents of Southwest Ranches keep 5,000 horses and there are up to 5,000 more in Davie and Plantation, said Kathy Cox, the club's treasurer.

She recalled how Rodrigo participated in Davie's annual Holiday Lighting of the Greens event, when riders decorate their mounts with battery-powered strands of lights and lead the way for Santa, who is aboard a fire truck.

"She was such a nice girl, was a good rider and had quite a bit of experience on different horses," Cox said. "It's just really sad. She really loved horses."